Babe's descendant makes run at Ruth reunion

Boston Herald ^ | April 20, 2004 | Kevin Rothstein

[Land_of_Lincoln_John]

Call it the return of the Bambino's bambinos.

Two great-grandsons of baseball legend Babe Ruth ran the Boston Marathon yesterday, passing within sight of Fenway Park, where the famous slugger once played for the Sox.

``I was extremely impressed with the crowd. They were phenomenal,'' said Brent Stevens, 26, whose dad was the grandson of Ruth and his second wife.

Stevens learned through news reports that a great grandson from Ruth's first marriage was also running the race. He hoped to meet the man, Chris Herrlein, but had no luck.

``If Chris and I could meet it's possible the curse could be broken this year,'' joked Stevens, a Red Sox fan.

Stevens was referring, of course, to the spell supposedly cast over the Red Sox when they sold Ruth to the Yankees in 1919. They have not won a World Series since.

Stevens, a marketing professional who lives in Georgia, doesn't know his relative because an old feud has divided Ruth's descendants. He wants to change that.

``I just thought it would be great to re-establish relations with the other side of the family,'' he said.

Herrlein, a Massachusetts resident, ran as a member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team. Not only did Ruth die of cancer at 53 but Herrlein's father is now fighting prostate cancer.

Red Sox Nation has fought for decades to break the spell cast on the franchise for letting the Bambino go. Perhaps the key has been to reunite the family.

After all, as the two descendants were running their marathon yesterday, the two rival teams at the center of the curse were battling it out at Fenway.

And the Sox beat the Yankees, 5-4.

[Land_of_Lincoln_John]

Brent finished at 3 hours and 52 minutes in the marathon, Chris Herrlein ran a 4:56. I was there too, it was a tough day to run, 85 degrees.